The live shots during the NFL Draft captured the steel rising out of the dirt.

The new 70,0000-seat stadium, scheduled to open in 2020, is beginning to take shape in Inglewood.

While the Los Angeles Rams are building their future home, however, they aren’t exactly building for the future.

As a headline-grabbing offseason has reinforced, the Rams are responding to last fall’s breakout season by reaching for the Lombardi Trophy.

“It’s been a special offseason for us,” Rams head coach Sean McVay told season-ticket holders last month during a draft kickoff party in downtown Los Angeles. “We’ve been able to acquire some really good players.”

During a wild three-week span in March and April, the Rams traded for All-Pro cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib, signed All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and traded for three-time 1,000-yard receiver Brandin Cooks.

As a result, the Rams Super Bowl odds were slashed from 18-1 to 9-1, according to Bovada.com. By the time May arrived, the Rams were the third favorite to win the Super Bowl, behind New England and Philadelphia, the two teams who played for the trophy in February.

The Rams added defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh to a defense that is expected to be one of the best in the NFL next season.(Photo: RICHARD VOGEL/ AP)

“We’re excited about the expectations and certainly don’t shy away from them,” said McVay, moments after former "Saturday Night Live" comic and Rams fan Taran Killam called him “The Boy Wonder” during his introduction.

This time last year, McVay was a relative unknown who had just eclipsed Lane Kiffin as the youngest NFL head coach of the modern era.

The biggest question, publicly, was whether the then-31-year-old was experienced enough to do the job.

Mike Martz, the Rams' head coach the last time they were the No. 1 offense in the league, wondered why the team had hired a “buddy” for young quarterback Jared Goff.

“And this guy is a quarterback expert?” Martz said. “Wait a minute while I puke.”

By November, when McVay had pulled off a sudden turnaround that would feature a seven-win improvement, the first worst-to-first scoring improvement of the Super Bowl era and the franchise’s first playoff game in 13 years, the question had been answered.

“McVay should be coach of the year,” Martz told The MMQB.

A couple months later, he was.

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Sean McVay won Coach of the Year in his first season guiding the Rams.(Photo: CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR)

But it was only the beginning of the McVay Era in Los Angeles.

“This league is too competitive, the players are too good,” McVay said last month, when the Rams opened their offseason training activities.

“You’ll get humbled very quickly, if you kind of just rest on your laurels. I think that’s the exciting thing for us. Let’s focus on what we can do to evolve and improve every single day.”

Much of the foundation of the Rams’ surprising turnaround last fall was laid in the spring.

That’s when the team solidified their offensive line with the veteran free-agent additions of tackle Andrew Whitworth and center John Sullivan.

That’s when the team signed receiver Robert Woods, who would lead the team in receptions and receiving yards on a per-game basis.

That’s when the team drafted rookies who would combine to make 26 starts, including receiver Cooper Kupp, tight end Gerald Everett and safety John Johnson.

“I think there’s a confidence that we were able to at least lay and establish a foundation,” McVay said about 2017. “But I think what those players will also tell you is that (you) really have to wipe the slate clean. We have to earn it every single day.”

The Rams could see it all coming together before they even took the field for training camp. As captured in Amazon’s “All or Nothing,” McVay leaned over to Les Snead in the War Room during the draft and told the general manager, "If the minicamp is any indicator, we hit on our free agents."

The Rams have been even more aggressive this offseason, dealing away a first-round pick to New England for Cooks, a second and a fourth for Peters and taking on Talib’s $11 million cap hit to become perhaps the NFL “it” team of the offseason.

Receiver Brandin Cooks was another big pickup for the Rams in the offseason.(Photo: AP FILE)

The moves made the returning players on the roster sit up and take notice, along with the rest of the league.

“We’re just getting the best people that we can as a team,” second-year linebacker Samson Ebukam said. “That’s just motivation for somebody like me to work harder, because I want to be part of this team when it’s all going down.”

Cooks has even thanked New England coach Bill Belichick for trading him to Los Angeles.

“He didn’t just send me off anywhere,” Cooks said on this week’s episode of the Rams’ Facebook Watch show, “Behind The Grind.”

“He sent me to a great organization in the Rams, being now with Coach McVay and a great offense like this, and a great quarterback like Jared Goff.”

ESPN announced this week that the new "Monday Night Football" team will debut for the Rams opener at Oakland, featuring McVay’s chess match with mentor Jon Gruden, despite the late kickoff.

”The Rams ... have been the offseason buzz team with what they accomplished in free agency with the win-now attitude,” new "MNF" play-by-play voice Joe Tessitore said. “(They’ve) got a dynamic young quarterback, obviously got the All-Pros all over the place everywhere you look, especially now with the additions on defense at cornerback and defensive line.”

It’s another example of the rising hype surrounding the franchise.

“We can’t fall into the hype,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said. “We just have to put our heads down and continue to grind.”

The Rams will play in prime time five times this fall, including on "Monday Night Football" against Oakland and Kansas City, in which Peters’ will face his former team. Divisional and conference showdowns with rival San Francisco and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia, respectively, will be showcased on "Sunday Night Football." The matchup with Minnesota also was chosen to kick of Fox's new Thursday Night coverage in Week 4.

The five prime-time appearances present a significant contrast to the franchise’s recent history. Apart from the required Thursday night appearance, Rams played in prime time just five times in their final six seasons in St. Louis and only once since returning to Los Angeles.

The franchise’s only showcase in 12 seasons of "Sunday Night Football" remains the 2010 season finale against Seattle, which was flexed into prime time because it was a defacto NFC West title game.

If taking over a team on a 13-year losing streak seemed like a difficult task, McVay will now attempt, in his follow-up campaign, to live up to the hype.

“What you feel good about is you’ve been able to establish a rapport and you have a familiarity with a lot of these players,” McVay said. “We know what our coaches are about. Now it’s going into Year 2 of our offensive and defensive systems.

“Just that comfort level where we know each other, we know what to expect. Now let’s continue to try to improve and evolve as we move forward.”